53 West James Street Lancaster, PA
This former tobacco warehouse is architecturally one of Lancaster’s most interesting buildings of its type.
Tobacco was king in 1899, when this warehouse was constructed. Lancaster County was leading the state in production of cigar-leaf tobacco. There were about 100 tobacco warehouses in Lancaster City at that time.
Most of those warehouses had plain architectural design. This example, though, has a dramatic and monumental façade achieved by its three-story brick pilasters and three large blind arches.
This warehouse was designed by Architect William Wallace Bretherick. (Thanks to Deb Oesch for identifying this building’s architect.) For many years the building was owned by P. Lorillard, the oldest tobacco company in the U. S. The company was established in New York in 1760.
Today the building is home to RGS Associates: landscape architects and civil engineers.